A Carlsen versus Anand match right now would be quite even, and I think the world champ could win it.

One of the reasons Anand has been achieving poor results is (in my opinion) because he is hoarding his best opening novelties so that he can reveal them in his next title match. This means that Anand cannot get an advantage from the opening in his tournament games, which explains why he is winning very few games against the world's elite.

Another point: Carlsen's chess rating is based on his performance in tournament chess. Match-play is different to tournament chess. Anand is very experienced in match-play, whereas Carlsen is very inexperienced.

These two factors go some way towards evening out the 70-odd rating point difference between the two.

Botvinnik was another champion who scored poorly in tournaments but still managed to play well in defence of his title. He hoarded his best opening novelties and was brilliant at match-play.

A lot of trash talk on Anand and Gelfand. Whether or not they're rated number one, Gelfand won, not given, the right to challenge the world champion, and Anand was able to hold onto his title against him.

Fischer's rating gap was impressive. Even now his peak rating would put him at number 6 on the current list, and that was before 40 years of ratings inflation. I'm sure his gap record will be broken one day, just like his rating record was, since all records are meant to be broken.

I'm glad Radjabov is rising the ranks. I've been a fan since a 13-year old Radjabov broke Garry Kasparov's 2-year winning spree w/ the white peices. Nobody had beaten Kasparov w/ the black peices 2-years b4 that and 2-years afterwaRDS, when he retired. I wouldn't be surprised if he were World Champion one day. He has the makings for it.

A category in the rating system is about 200 rating points. Some one who is 200 points above you is expected to beat you about 3 out of 4 games (Classical time controls) 75% is the bare minimun that represents dominace in skill over the opponent's skill level.

Carlsen is 73 points ahead of Anand, That is ALMOST half a category.

Statistically, Carlsen is more likely to beat Anand, BUT is not enough to ensure him complete dominance over Anand.

In other words, if Carlsen and Anand were to play 4 games, it is very likely to have 4 draws or one win (for carlsen) and 3 draws. This is assuming they are playing their best chess.

In April 2007, Viswanathan Anand became the sixth player to top the rankings.[2] Kramnik briefly returned to the number one ranking in January 2008, but like the previous time, was joint number one by rating, being placed first in the list due to having played more games in the rating period in question. For most of the period April 2007 to November 2009, the top ranking was held by either Anand or Topalov.

Anand has defended the world title three times against the best possible player coming out of the Candidates Matches. You can't blame him for being world champion. He is an old lion hunging on to his title.

It's time for Carlsen to join the Candidates Matches. No more petty requests to FIDE. Other elite GMs have to go through the same process to challenge the champion. Throughout chess history, challengers have to pass the eye of the needle to challenge the champion.

@ Beachdude67: "Its just a number. When the world champion is ranked #6 you know that the ratings aren't that big a deal."

In my opinion its exactly the opposite: when the world champion is no longer capable of winning any tournaments in the last three years and no longer capable of winning chess games then that title does not represent the best player in the world. This year Anand has won the world title in the rapid games, has won a game against Gelfand, has lost games against Tiviakov, Gelfand and Carlsen (so he is at -2 at classical time controls) and has been playing some very drawish lines with white quite often - see the game Anand vs Carlsen (Bilbao/Sao Paolo), when Carlsen with black was the only one fighting for a win. Moreover Anand wasn't been able to defeat an out of form Vallejo Pons with white or black in the same tournament. Unfortunately many seem to forget even how Anand won the title: only in the rapids after not being able to defeat a player ranked 22 in the world in March this year! It's sad to see a great attacking player being so far from his best and not giving it all at the chessboard. Just confortably numb.

@ chessdoggblack - fortunately, chess is about much more than money. in your two posts you only seem to care about the purse and the million Anand won by becoming world champion.

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